I was working through my “Honey-do” list—finishing the basement was the task at hand. I was cutting a piece of 4x4 lumber and it hit me, not the lumber, an idea. You must realize, I get marketable ideas continually and do keep a journal but this one really grabbed me and I had to start right away. My brain was just a churning and going off in all directions. I immediately went up to the shop and began cutting and shaping an old piece of lumber into a very rough prototype of our current Vertical Game Board. It took me hours to work out the various angles, shapes, and cut depths. Once I had a usable board, I then began going through my scrap pile. I knew I saved scraps for some reason and this was a perfect reason. I began to cut out the tile cards for the game. Once the tile cards were cut to size, I simply marked them with X’s and O’s. I then went to bed to get an hour of sleep before I had to go to work. The next day I got the game out and started playing the game with my kids and they loved it! I made a few adjustments to the game and we had fun playing the game as a family.

After spending many more hours on the Vertical Game Board and ironing out the rules, I did some market research and studies. Everyone that played or saw the game loved it and wanted one. Well, to make a long story short, I finished the game but not my basement.